Keep the 6950s or dump them?

[SeaFoam]

I'm running 3 6950 2gbs (with the 70 flash) and I'm wondering if I should dump them and go with something else. Running 3 1680x1050s on them.

Thoughts? I don't mind spending a little cash with the sale money for an upgrade, as long as it would be worth it.

 

[GigabyteZ]

upgrade those monitors before you get better gpu's

 

[DarkTower]

Are you having performance issues in certain games? If so try only using two cards and see if its a trifire issue. Otherwise I would get a better CPU first. Upgrade to a 2600k or 3770k. You could also save up and wait for theyre new chips coming out later this year/early next year.

 

[raghu78]

I'm running 3 6950 2gbs (with the 70 flash) and I'm wondering if I should dump them and go with something else. Running 3 1680x1050s on them.

Thoughts? I don't mind spending a little cash with the sale money for an upgrade, as long as it would be worth it.

if you sell your HD 6950s at 150 bucks each that should get you USD 450. Spend another 200 bucks and get 2 HD 7950 cards. the sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-x is one of the best designs. make sure you have atleast 4 slots gap between the cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202003

A single HD 7950 (1.15 Ghz) will get you close to HD 6950 CF perf in the latest DX 11 games. Keep in mind its going to become very difficult to get even 120 bucks each for your existing HD 6950 if the HD 7850s start falling to USD 175 (which will happen by the holiday season in late Nov).

 

[SeaFoam]

upgrade those monitors before you get better gpu's

They are IPS monitors, which I'd rather have than some shitty 1080p TN panels.

Are you having performance issues in certain games? If so try only using two cards and see if its a trifire issue. Otherwise I would get a better CPU first. Upgrade to a 2600k or 3770k. You could also save up and wait for theyre new chips coming out later this year/early next year.

Not maxing the CPU out at all right now, this machine won't be getting a CPU/board change. Once Haswell is out, I'll build a new box. The GPUs still run great, but after the new computer is built, this one will be going to a single monitor and used as a desktop/second gaming machine. I want it to be viable for a couple more years.

 

[Abraxas601]

I've got a tri-fire setup with a pair of 6950s and a 6970. The 6950s are Sapphire Dirt 3 editions that won't unlock. When Tri-fire and the game are fully optimized and working, I get great performance on my Dell U3011 (2560x1600). My CPU is a 3930K so when playing BF3, my FPS numbers are a good example of the max performance I can expect from this setup. Settings are maxed and I very rarely drop below 60fps, even on the most intense 64 player maps. All three cards are OC'd to 925Mhz, no OC on the memory.

I had planned on eventually replacing them with a pair of 7970s. So far none of the games I have played have justified replacing the cards. I'm playing GW2 right now with maxed settings. There's a lot of crossfire optimization that needs to be done but FPS is typically in the 30-60 range and graphics are beautiful for an MMO.

Like I said though, with good crossfire support and a properly optimized game, the performance is still great.

 

[SeaFoam]

How much of a performance increase would a pair of 7970s be over my current setup?

 

[Robertmarcus]

pretty big imo. I went from a 6870 to a 7970 (pretty big of a difference) but i think it is worth while. I game on 5760*1080p and b4 i couldnt even play 'playable'. So i loved the jump. Good luck.

 

[SeaFoam]

pretty big imo. I went from a 6870 to a 7970 (pretty big of a difference) but i think it is worth while. I game on 5760*1080p and b4 i couldnt even play 'playable'. So i loved the jump. Good luck.

This would be the 3 unlocked 6950 2gb to 2 7970 3gb. From what I've seen it would be worth the extra 50 to 100 dollars.